


even when he's not here, he's protecting me

by trappedoutside124



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-02 06:51:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14539044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trappedoutside124/pseuds/trappedoutside124
Summary: IW SPOILERS-------------Even when he's on Titan, Tony is protecting Pepper in New York. Rhodes and Natasha go to find her, and then get a call that Tony has been found and is safely in Wakanda. Reunions ensue.





	1. Chapter 1

When the call between Tony and herself cut off, Pepper had been angry. No, furious. For two whole years they had enjoyed relative peace and quiet. Of course, Tony still spent hours creating new technology and there was the incident with the spider-boy. But, for the most part, there had been calm. 

Now, all of that was gone. 

In an instant, Bruce and that wizard with the perfectly coiffed hair had stolen Tony away from her. Not even half an hour later all hell had broke loose. Pepper had been changing out of her workout clothes when the sound of strong winds rushing by her window peaked her interest. "FRIDAY, are we expecting storms?" she called to the A.I., throwing her dirty clothes into the hamper. 

"No, Mrs. Potts. We seem to be experiencing some sort of alien attack." At that, Pepper's heart sank to her feet and she ran to the window. Fifteen minutes later, when she could finally get a hold of Tony, she knew something was wrong. She could FEEL it. 

Pepper loved Tony so much. She loved his wit and his smile. She loved his strength. And most of all, she loved his desire to protect the ones he loved, even if it nearly killed him (that was the part she hated). Now, he was sucked back into the space and God knows where he was. 

Pepper took deep breaths and gripped the granite countertops in the kitchen, setting her phone to the side. "He's okay, he'll always be okay," she said to herself. "Malibu, New York, Siberia, he's always survived. He'll be okay."

Two days later, he still wasn't back. She couldn't get a hold of him. She had slept maybe seven hours--none of which had been restful. 

Then, people started disappearing. 

She had been gathering her things for a meeting with investors when she heard the explosion. Just because Tony was gone and aliens were back in New York didn't mean that Stark Enterprises shut down; she still had a company to run. She had her portfolio in one hand and her cell phone in the other when the explosion rattled the penthouse. She tripped and instinctively covered her head. "FRIDAY?" she yelled, looking for answers. 

"Mrs. Potts, something is happening. I'm detecting losses of heat signatures all over the city. Scratch that--all over the world." The A.I. sounded terrified. Screams were coming from outside, and she could hear more crashes. 

"Pepper? Pepper, are you in there?" Happy called from foyer. He was here to escort her to her meeting. Pepper sighed with relief at the sound of the familiar voice. She quickly stood up and grabbed her things, brushing some of the wrinkles out of her pantsuit. 

"Happy, thank God you're here. What is happening outsi--" Pepper was cut off as she turned the corner into the foyer and looked at her friend. Where his hands should've been were slowly evaporating pools of dust. "Happy?"

He looked at her with wide eyes, terrified. "Pepper, I don't know what's going on," he yelled. Now half of his body had turned to dust. Pepper dropped to her knees in horror as she watched her friend's whole body evaporate in front of her, leaving only a pile of dust on the hardwood floor. 

Pepper began to shake uncontrollably. She couldn't even scream she was so scared. Her mind was racing. She needed Tony, he could protect her. What would he do? "Think, Pepper. Think." she thought to herself. Then, she remembered. 

"FRIDAY, implement Doomsday protocols!" She scream loudly into the air. Suddenly, steel sheets fell from the ceiling to cover the windows and doors. Three of Tony's suits flew upstairs from the floor and took an attack stance facing each door and window, ready to protect Pepper. In an instant, a suit specially made for her was covering her body and red and gold armor until she was fully suited. Once the face mask had been secured, she heard the suit whir to life around her. "Doomsday protocols implemented," FRIDAY said into her ear. 

It was something Tony had told her about months ago. "Just in case anything big happens. Just in case we need something a little extra," he had explained to her over dinner. At the time, Pepper had just rolled her eyes and gone along with it. If it helped with his nightmares, she was all for it. Now she owed it her life. 

Now that Pepper was safely secured within iron walls, all she could hear were muffled cries and the soft sounds of the engines on the bots. In her own metal suit, Pepper curled up in a ball. And there, on the floor, she began to cry. Even when he wasn't with her, Tony was still protecting her. 

If only Pepper could protect him.   
\------------------------------  
It took Rhodes about two hours to remember Pepper after everything went down. After the survivors had made their way back to the palace, after they had all sat down to deal with what had just happened, Rhodes realized his best friend's fiancé was still in New York. 

He was sitting in a chair beside Steve, silently nursing his injured arm when he shot up. "Pepper!" he yelled. Instantly, Steve knew what he meant. "Go get her. Take Natasha." So, Rhodes and Natasha took a quinjet and flew straight to New York City. 

Through the entire ride, Rhodes had no idea how he'd break the news to Pepper that none of them knew where Tony was, or if he was even alive. Rhodes himself was still trying to deal with the reality that he may never see his friend again. Tony had been there for him through thick and thin; Rhodes couldn't imagine going on without him. 

Finally, Natasha slowed the jet down and said, "We're here." They parked the jet on top of Stark Towers where Pepper stayed in New York. The usually pristine glass windows were covered in steel, and it seemed like all the lights were off on the tower. The city below was chaotic, and fires were still burning. Natasha looked at Rhodes nervously, both of them thinking the same thing: how could they know if Pepper was even still alive? 

Carefully, they walked from the jet to one of the doors. Rhodes tried pulling it open; it wouldn't budge. He tried knocking; no one answered. 

"Is there a code or something? Why is everything closed off and dark?" Natasha asked, looked around at the building. Then, it dawned on Rhodes. With a sigh of relief, he said: "The Doomsday Protocol. Pepper must be alive and she must have initiated it." 

"What's that?" 

"Tony made it for when something like this happened." They both got quiet at that remark; Natasha still felt guilty that she didn't take Tony's nightmares more seriously. He had known this was coming for them. He had tried to prepare. 

Stepping back, Rhodes looked up at the building. "FRIDAY," he called loudly, "Deactivate Doomsday protocols."

"Authorization Code needed," responded the A.I.

"Colonel James Rhodes, code A3452ZG," 

There was silence, then FRIDAY responded: "Doomsday protocol deactivated. Welcome, Colonel."

The steel barring the doors and windows began to recede to reveal two bots staring Natasha and Rhodes down. The bots lowered their weapons and flew back into Tony's workshop. Opening the door carefully, Natasha and Rhodes stepped into Stark Tower. 

"Pepper? Hello? It's Natasha and Rhodey. We're here to help," Natasha called, brandishing her weapon just in case it wasn't Pepper who initiated the protocol.

"Pep? Where are you?" Rhodes called out, heading towards the living room. 

"Rhodey? Is that you?" he heard a familiar voice say. Rhodes' let out a breath and ran to the foyer where it was coming from. There, on the ground next to one of the couches, was Pepper covered in one on Tony's suits.

"Oh, Pepper. Am I glad to see you," Rhodes breathed. With a sob, Pepper stood up and stepped out of the armor, falling into his arms crying. Rhodes held her and patted her back. He could feel the tension in her back and shoulders; she had been here all alone for days. She looked up and began to cry again when she saw Natasha walking towards them. 

"Hey boss," Natasha smiled, happy to see her old friend. Then, she put a hand to her ear as someone began speaking into her comms unit. "Huh? Yeah, we got her. We're on our way back to Wakanda now." Rhodes began to lead a shaky Pepper to the quinjet parked outside. "Wait, WHAT?" he heard Natasha yell. He turned back and gave her a look. "When? How? We're on our way," Natasha dashed to Rhodes and Pepper. 

"Let's go guys, we need to get back to Wakanda now," she declared, strapping herself back into the pilot's seat. 

"W-what? What's happening?" Pepper stuttered, still clinging to Rhodes. 

Natasha got the jet into the air, then turned to look at them. With a smile, she said: "Good news. Tony's alive, and he's in Wakanda. Steve is with him now."

Rhodes breathed out a sigh of relief and Pepper began to cry again. "Well hot damn," he said, "Tony's alive." He would get to see his best friend again after all. 

With that, the three of them took off back towards Wakanda, towards friendship, towards family. 

Towards home.


	2. Tony's home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony wakes up in Wakanda and talks to Steve, then Pepper.

The first thing Tony heard when he woke up was the sound of birds chirping. Which was weird because he didn't know that there were birds on Titan. Or in space at all, for that matter. He hesitantly cracked one of his eyes open. He was laying in what looked like a hospital room. One of the walls was entirely covered in windows facing what looked like a metropolitan city. Tall, green mountains lay in the background of the city. The sky was the bluest it had ever been. 

He looked down at his body. Scratches covered his hands and his arms. His bones ached.

"Am I dead?" Tony groaned to no one in particular. From the chair in the corner of the room, someone stirred and opened their eyes to look at him. Eyes that Tony hadn't seen in two years or so. 

Steve fucking Rogers was sitting in the corner of Tony's hospital room. They stared at each other for a moment before Tony let his head flop back onto the pillow. 

"Yep, totally dead. But if you're here, I can't decide if this is heaven or hell yet."

Steve chuckled and scooted the chair across the room to sit right next to Tony's bed. "Nope," he replied, "Not dead. But you tried your hardest to be." Silence fell back over the room. 

Tony examined the man next to him. "So, new look. I like it. The beard ages you." Steve just looked at him like he was crazy. 

"Really? The apocalypse just happened and you're asking me about my beard?" 

The apocalypse. Right. 

Tony pushed himself up in his hospital bed, groaning at the effort. Instinctively, Steve reached out a hand to help him sit up. Tony couldn't help realize that this was their first interaction since they tried to kill each other in Siberia years ago. "Who'd we lose here?" Tony asked once he was upright. 

Steve hung his head and wrung his hands together. "Let's see. We lost Vision when Thanos ripped the mind stone out of his head," Steve said, not noticing the look of horror that passed Tony's face, "Then we lost Wanda, Sam, Groot, T'Challa, and Bucky when everything disappeared. Apparently, Clint lost his entire family." 

Tony looked at his old friend carefully when he mentioned Bucky's name. "I'm sorry about Bucky, Steve." Steve nodded his head without saying anything, clenching his jaw tight. 

"He'd be sorry, too. About everything." Steve replied, meeting Tony's eyes. And in that moment, they knew that both of them were sorry for what happened two years ago. They were both too prideful to be the first one to concede, but they needed each other right now. The world needed them together. 

"What happened to you, Tony? Where were you?"

Now it was Tony's turn to clench his jaw as images of space, Thanos, and death flashed through his mind. "Me, Peter, and Doctor Strange went to fight Thanos on his own turf with some people named the Guardians. Me and a woman named Nebula were the only two left." 

Nebula. 

"Wait," Tony said, startled, "How did I get here? Where is Nebula?"

"Calm down, everything's fine. You two were able to fix some ship and she flew you back to Earth. She's talking to Thor's Raccoon friend right now." 

"Where's everyone else?" Tony asked Steve. 

Steve rubbed a hand through his beard. "Well," he started, "Thor and Bruce are somewhere talking to war generals with Rocket and Nebula. Clint is somewhere in Japan with the Ant-Man. And Rhodes and Natasha...are right on time," Steve finished as he heard the voice of his best friend echoing down the hallway. Something in Tony's chest loosening as he realized Rhodes was alive. 

Then, he heard another voice. 

"Where is he? I need to see my fiancé," he heard Pepper demand from somewhere outside the room. 

Pepper. 

An electric current ran through his body as he heard the her voice. He had left her behind in all the chaos. With everything that had happened, all the trauma he had been through, he had completely forgotten to check if she was okay. 

He was a true piece of shit. 

But now that he heard her voice and knew she was there and that she was alive, a wave of emotions ran through his body. Tears sprang to his eyes and was overcome with such love for this woman that even Steve got emotional at the sight of his friend hearing the voice of the person he loved. 

"In here, Pep," Tony croaked, his voice already cracking. He heard the signature clacking of heels coming towards the door to his room. Then, it was flung open and standing there was the most beautiful woman Tony had ever seen in his life. She was wearing one of her signature black and white pantsuits, but it was wrinkled to hell and back and one of pant legs had a rip in it. Her red hair was mussed and frizzy. 

She was gorgeous. 

"Oh my god, Tony." Pepper said, seeing her man laying in a hospital bed. All Tony did was hold out his arms and then she was falling into him, crashing against him in the hospital bed sobbing and shaking with so many emotions flowing through her body. He held her tight as she cried into his neck, running a hand over her back and another one through her hair, whispering into her ear that he was okay and how much he loved her. 

"I am so, so angry at you," Pepper said when she pulled back to look at Tony's face, "I am absolutely furious." Tony nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears, reaching one hand up to cup her face. 

"I know. You have every right to be," He replied. 

"What else is new?" said a voice from the corner. Tony looked over to see Rhodes and Natasha smiling at them. 

"Of course you two are still alive. Not even Satan himself could kill the Widow and Rhodey," Tony replied with a smile. 

"Look who's talking. Apparently, not even a stab wound in space by a mad Titan could kill Iron Man," Natasha replied with a wink. 

"Wait, you were stabbed? What? Where?" Pepper exclaimed, sitting back on her heels in the hospital bed to give Tony the once-over. "That's it, you're on permanent house arrest. You are never leaving my sight ever again." She said, curling up next to him. 

"I second that," said Steve, moving to stand by Natasha. "C'mon guys, let's go find the others and tell them Tony's awake." With that, Steve left Pepper and Tony alone in the hospital room. 

Tony put an arm around her and pulled her closer to him, closing his eyes. "Have I ever told you that I love you and want you to be my wife?"

Tony could tell Pepper was smiling when she spoke, "Leave me like that again and I'll end your life, Stark." 

"Yes ma'am."

Nothing was okay. Half of the universe was dead. Peter Parker was dead. There seemed to be no hope left. 

But here in this hospital room, at least for the next couple moments, everything was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to popular demand, I decided to write the second chapter where Tony and Steve/Pepper reunite! If anyone has any requests or fic ideas that they want to give me, leave it in the comments below and I just might write about it!

**Author's Note:**

> I plan on making a chapter 2 where Pepper/Tony and Steve/Tony reunite if people really want to see it! I just needed a fic about what happened to Pepper when everything went down on Titan/Wakanda.


End file.
